SULAIMANI — One of KAR group's main oil reserve tanks in
Kawergosk refinery was damaged during the maissile attack in Erbil yesterday (1
May), according to the Iraqi Security Media Cell.
The attack "aimed to affect the power supply at this
specific time," the media cell said on its Twitter page yesterday.
The attack was carried out a day before the beginning of the
Eid al-Fitr holiday.
The statement added that a missile launcher was discovered,
which was loaded with four missiles, in Faziliya areas of Bashiqa district, in
Ninewa Plain. The Iraqi security forces defused the missiles, it said.
No casualties were reported, and investigations into the
attack have started, it added.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) said
yesterday's attack came from a known area in al-Hamdaniya town, similar to
previous missile attacks on Erbil, according to a statement on the council's
Facebook page posted yesterday.
The area from where the missiles were fired falls between
areas controlled by the Iraqi security forces and the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq and
Shabak Militia of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), it said.
The KRSC, which is affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP), called on the Iraqi premier and the federal government to clear
the area from the "terrorists and mafias".
Iraqi Premier, UN
The Iraqi Premier Mustafa al-Kadhimi discussed the security
situation and the Erbil attack carried out by "terror and criminal
gangs" in a phone call with the KDP leader Masoud Barzani, according to
PM's press office.
Al-Kadhimi said that the Iraqi security force would pursue
the perpetrators of "this cowardly attack".
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani also
"strongly condemned" the attack today and called on the Iraqi federal
government to find the perpetrators according to Barzani's official website.
The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) also
condemned the attack in a post on Twitter: "the reckless firing of rockets
at an oil refinery in Erbil on the eve of Eid al-Fitr is another alarming
development."
It added that "Iraq's leaders must work as one to
counter such acts of aggression, which seek to undermine the country's security
and stability."
The UK consul general, David Hunt, also condemned the
"senseless and reckless" attack on Twitter today and said there is
"no excuse for such violence."
In March, the Erbil home of Baz Karim Barzanji, the CEO of
KAR Group, was struck by a missile attack. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for the attack.
(NRT Digital Media)